Well maybe it will be great to have a new MP. It seems every other part of Lewisham have seen some serious investment and improvements in the past 20 years while Sydenham has stood still at best. We cant even keep the main high street supermarket open. I wonder if it will be a massive charity shop ,chicken shop, bookies or estate agents.

So perhaps you could provide examples of the serious investment and mprovements in every part of Lewisham except Sydenham- which incidentally has had a refurbished swimming pool and library complex in Dartmouth Road and hugely expensive upgrade of pavements in the High Street, and the Overground extension. Perhaps you could also explain how our MP could have prevented the closure of the Coop, an essentially commercial decision, even though I'm pretty sure Jim Dowd would have made what representations he could as a member of the Coop party.

I'm not a great fan of our sitting MP, he can be rude and dismissive of what he considers liberal time-wasters, and I speak from personal experience. He's not a good public performer, but he has been a solid constituency MP and he does a great deal of the unsung spade work that falls to a conscientious member of parliament. We could have done a lot worse.

What I, as a member of the Labour Party find outrageous is that the local party will have no role in the selection of the new candidate but will have one imposed by the NEC and regional board. I know time is short, but this is an affront to democracy and the fundamental right of local parties to select their candidate. Shame.

I'll keep it simple. The rubbish. It seems there are not enough road sweepers, these little things make a huge difference. Its a labour safe seat so they only seem to care about the areas that could become Tory or Lib dem like Deptford, Blackheath, Greenwich, Brockley, Forest Hill and onor Oak

Yes, the of course streets are noticeably cleaner in Depford and Honor Oak, and especially in Forest Hill, represented in parliament by, er......Jim Dowd.

I'll try and keep it simple too. I asked for examples of investment in other parts of the borough thst you claim have been favoured over Sydenham for political reasons- you haven't provided any. The best you can come up with is a moan about street sweeping. And just so you are aware, Greenwich is in the London Borough of Greenwich and has nothing to do with Lewisham.

Several more names have emerged in the race to be Labour’s candidate in a safe London seat.

A local councillor, international development expert and former think tank boss are said to have applied for Lewisham West and Penge.

Ellie Reeves, a former member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), is one of the favourites after applications closed yesterday.

The vacancy has been created by Jim Dowd’s decision to step down. He posted a majority of 12,714 in the south London constituency in 2015 which means it is expected to stay Labour despite the party’s poor position in the polls nationally.

Candidates will be appointed by a panel of NEC and regional board representatives.

The activists thought to have applied include:

Kevin Bonavia

The solicitor and Lewisham councillor is best known for his work with Syrian refugees and is a former chair of both the Young Fabians and Young Labour Lawyers. He was Labour’s candidate in Rochford and Southend East in 2010 and is a member of Unite.

Ibrahim Dogus

The entrepreneur and co-chair of SME4Labour is perhaps best-known for his role in the popular British Kebab Awards, which is attended by activists from across the party. He is also the founder director of the Centre for Turkey Studies.

Jane East

The international development worker contested Colne Valley seat in Yorkshire for Labour at the last general election. She has worked for Christian Aid for several years, including a spell in Nigeria.

Ian Kearns

The former deputy director of the IPPR, a left-leaning think tank, lives in Lewisham and is a former chair of the neighbouring Lewisham Deptford constituency Labour Party (CLP). He co-founded and previously directed the European Leadership Network, a pan-European NGO.

Ellie Reeves

The employment law barrister narrowly lost her place on the NEC last year, when a series of pro-Corbyn candidates won through, but is well-known in the capital due to her role as vice-chair of London Labour Party. She is married to John Cryer, chair of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), while Lewisham West and Penge is her home constituency.

Christian Wolmar

The transport expert and author who contested the Richmond Park by-election for Labour last year has thrown his hat in the ring. He has frequently spoken out over his belief that Brexit will be a “disaster” for the country.

no she's not our MP yet - she's only been elected as the labour candidate.admitedly it's a pretty safe seat, but the election hasn't happened yet, so if enough people get out and vote some other way then she won't be. yes I know thats rather unlikely, but I do like to be precise and accurate on certain things.

Jim got over 50% of the first past the post vote, so how could AV have altered things?

as I understand it , AV and PR are different approaches to try to solve the same problem, if you have PR , you have to have some different way of those "pooled" votes counting, which must inevitably lead to larger constituencies

Like it or not, a key issue of the election is going to be how hard we want our Brexit and we knew Jim was in favour of remaining in the EU to the point of disregarding his own party's leadership. Lewisham was massively in favour of remaining and despite the campaigning having started, I've not a clue where Ellie Reeves stands on this. Or indeed local issues or anything else.

To be fair I do not know what the other candidates' views are either and the game seems to be say nothing or be hazy lest you put people off or worst be held to it later on. No details. No conviction. But hey - look at our nice rosettes. You like that colour don't you?

AV (the alternative vote) is a hybrid form of PR (proportional Representation).

If a seat is safe, then people are less inclined to vote as they feel their vote will be wasted. Labour got 50.6% of the vote at the last election, which was an increase of over 9% from the previous election. I'd argue that the more peoples vote count, the more inclined they are to vote for their first choice than tactically and the more they will participate in democracy.

It may well mean (and probably will) that Labour still win in Lewisham/Penge. But for those of us that don't always vote Labour, our vote will carry more weight. In turn this should make MP's more accountable.

At the risk of coming across as someone who talks to themselves on the bus, my early thoughts were backed up today by a curious call on behalf of Labour asking me how I would vote.

What's in your manifesto? - It hasn't been published, but it will soon.OK - What is your position on Brexit? - Slightly irritated - This is not how this is meant to work! Do you intend to vote Labour?

On the other hand Ellie Reeves is posting videos on her twitter account today, and explains her and Labour's position on Brexit - people can look for themselves if they want - but she comes across as pretty normal.

JRobinson wrote:no she's not our MP yet - she's only been elected as the labour candidate.admitedly it's a pretty safe seat, but the election hasn't happened yet, so if enough people get out and vote some other way then she won't be. yes I know thats rather unlikely, but I do like to be precise and accurate on certain things.

Unfortunately, in LB of Lewisham you could stick a Labour rosette on a donkey and it would win.